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Saturday, 20 December 2008

It's week 30 over at Sketch Saturday this week, haven't the weeks just flown by eh?!Here is my card, I have used yet more of my stampin up papers, I really can't get enough of these at the moment! I love this chocolate chip colour its so rich and warm looking, however in hindsight, I wish i'd backed each of the patterned papers onto perhaps a red or green plain paper so that the patterns would have stood out better. But saying that I still like the combination together.I have stamped 2 Magnolia images and used watercolour pencils to colour them in, the flower is just a small woodware scalloped circle punch which I cut and shaped to look like a flower then added the leaves and the pearlised button in the centre.

Can I take this opportunity to wish each and everyone of you a Very Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year!Love, Jo xx

Friday, 19 December 2008

Just a quickie to let you know that my Siggi Shop business will be closed for the festive season.Thank you to everyone who has requested customised design work by me over the last 11 months, I appreciate you choosing me and I have found that designing for you is so rewarding, I enjoy every minute of it!I have met lots of wonderful new friends through my business and of course through this blog.I look forward to working with some of you again and hope to find many more new friends this coming new year too.THANK YOU ALL!I will be taking new orders from Tuesday 6th January.

I have used more of my yummy Stampin Up papers, the green distressed paper is from their 'tea & crumpets' range, the pinky red ones are 'Rose Red' designer series papers.

The image is from a stamp I bought off a well known auction site, I don't know if it is made by any particular company sorry, but it's a fabulous image don't you think? lol I have coloured the cat to look like our cat Tickle, she loves playing with the baubles on our tree, so this image suits her so well, she has even climbed up the tree and made it fall over in the past!! mad cat! lol.

The 'lace' edge was simply made by using a corner punch without the corner guard.

Since taking this photo I have added 'Dear Daughter' going down the left hand side, as this is now Laura's Christmas card from me & her dad. (hope she doesn't look on here before we get to give it to her!)

Anyway, please go take a look at the other design teams work on the blog, their work is so beautiful, i'm in awe of all of them.

Saturday, 29 November 2008

Sketch #27 over at Sketch Saturday, and this week you could win one of Whiff of Joys new christmas stamps, Herb with bird. Isn't he adorable? awwwwwwwww.

This is my card, I have used another WoJ stamp, Willow with hot chocolate, which I received in less than a week, Thank you Katharina!

I have coloured Willow with my watercolour pencils, the patterned paper with the small stars on was free with a mag, the other plain papers were embossed in my argyle cuttlebug folder followed by gently rubbing a shadow ink pad over the embossed paper. The sentiment is hand written. Please pop over to Sketch Saturday and see the other cards made by the design team, they're stunning! Thank you.

Wednesday, 26 November 2008

Huge thanks go to my lovely freinds Tracie and Debbie, who have both passed this onto me (Thanks Girls! I'm honoured that you thought of me. xx)

Here's what the award means...

This blog invests and believes the PROXIMITY - nearness in space, time and relationships!These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind blogger's aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight blogger's who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.

Isn't that a lovely sentiment?

I would like to pass this onto all of you, because you find the time to stop by to leave a comment, I thank each and every one of you, because I know I'm a big let down in that respect, I never have as much time anymore, yet you all FIND the time so are much more worthy than me for this award.

So I know this is a bit of a cop-out, but I think you all deserve this award, blogging has made so many friends for all of us, and we all give our friendhip freely and expect nothing in return. So please award this to yourselves if you haven't already received it........ because you're worth it!! ;)

Saturday, 15 November 2008

There's a few christmas goodies up for grabs this week too, pop over to the blog and see what you could win if you make a christmas card, and while you're there please take time to look at the fabulous cards made by the design team.

Here is my card, I have used stampin up papers again this week, i'm loving their papers so much. The image and sentiment were given to me by my lovely friend Mariska, who incidently is celebrating her birthday today!!

Sunday, 9 November 2008

What an opportunity for crafters everywhere!Sally from Bootiful Stampz is giving a stamp away every day for the rest of November... WOW!Here's what Sally says on her blog...Yep! As it approaches the Merry Season i think i'm going slightly mad!!! and I have decided that for the rest of November I am going to give away One Stamp EVERY DAY!!!! There are conditions of course! I want you to tell people about the One Day Giveaway on your blog and link back to This Bootiful Stampz Blog! You will have until 11/12pm on that day to put your name down, only once per day please but you can enter EVERY DAY!! and of course for EVERY DAY that you do enter, you will have to post on your blog! you could win once/twice or three times who knows! All names that have answered that day and have posted on their blog (links will be checked) will go into a hat and the winner announced the next day! I will make a new post each day and you just add your name to that post!So watch out for the start of the One a Day Giveaway TOMORROW!!!! 10th November!! and of course - Lots of luck!!!Good luck from me too, remember you gotta be in it to win it! ;)

Saturday, 1 November 2008

It's DT week over at Sketch Saturday!This weeks fabulous sketch is designed and hosted by Coco! (Merci beaucoup mon amie!)

Coco has also given us the option of using an autumnal theme too, so I just had to use my 'Windy Tilda' stamp. I stamped Tilda on plain card and used watercolour pencils to colour her in, then I stamped her dress and hat on 2 different patterned papers and paper pieced them onto the other image.

The card base is cut from Chatterbox Chateau Upholstery cardstock, which is gorgeous double sided cardstock. The patterned circles are cut from Papercellar's wedding collection.

I have since stamped a greeting on the bottom left corner so that I could send this card to a friend.

I think the layout that Coco has given us would be excellent for christmas cards too, don't you think?

Wednesday, 22 October 2008

I love autumn, it's my favourite season, full of gorgeous browns, reds and gold colours everywhere. The air feels crisp and clean and fresh.So to receive this award not once, but twice is fantastic!My friends Tracie and Pauline have both passed this award onto me - Thanks ladies! Happy Autumn to you both! xxI now have to pass this onto 6 more people...

Saturday, 18 October 2008

Here is my card using the sketch for this weeks challenge over at Sketch Saturday.The stamp is called 'cats bearing gifts', I think it's a great christmas image for any cat lover.The plain green paper was embossed with my swiss dots folder, and the patterned paper is by basic grey and is called 'Dasher'. The poinsettias were freebies with a magazine, and although not essential to the design I think they finish the card off nicely.

Friday, 17 October 2008

Its challenge #9 over at House Mouse & Friends this week and Emma has given us a beautiful sketch to work with. Thanks Em!

The image I have used is also thanks to Emma, as I don't have any HM stamps yet so she kidly sent me some images.

The mixture of card & papers are all from my stash, the 'lace' was made by using my corner punch. I found the beads in amongst my jewellery making tool box, I loved how they shimmered in the light, I have attached them to the card using Anita's 3D gloss.

This card will go to my niece, her bf and their baby girl, it will be Taylor's first christmas this year, so I will probably add a greeting to the bottom of the card too.

Wednesday, 15 October 2008

Oh WOW!!! I couldn't believe it when I saw the yummy blog candy being offered by Jules!Stampin up designer papers, inkpad, ribbon and a Sarah Kay stamp!Julie is very kindly offering this candy to celebrate her blogoversary on the 20th October.To go check it out for yourself and to get your name down to be in with a chance of winning this amazing prize CLICK HERE!Happy Blogoversary Jules! xx

I've joined up! there's just 3 places left, get your name down now before they all go!"Joined what?" you may ask.Well, it's the....

Stampers 10 club!The club has 10 members & runs for 10 monthsEach month every member commits to ordering a minimum of £15 worth of Stampin Up products plus P&PEach month one of the members is selected as a "virtual" hostess and receives the hostess benefits which will be a minimum of a Level 1 hostess stamp set and £15 worth of FREE products.Each member will receive a FREE copy of the catalogue.Jules will also be sending freebies and tutorials over the course of the 10 months.

Stampers 10 is a great way of building up your stash each month without breaking the bank.

Saturday, 11 October 2008

I have used patterned paper which was part of a TSV from QVC, the burgundy paper is pearlised (hence the shimmer), the image was given to me by my friend Emma (Thanks again Em! xx) I have coloured it with watercolour pencils. The sentiment is a tiny greeting from Stamps Away. The little cupcakes were hand drawn and coloured to match.

Please go take a look at the rest of the design teams fabulous cards, they are awesome!

Tuesday, 7 October 2008

My friend Fi from Inchy By Inch gave us the theme of rain or water for our inchies this week.Here's mine, really easy one to make actually, 2 inchies punched from acetate and brown card, cut out the 'windows' from the brown inchy so that it looks like a window frame, adhere onto of the acetate inchy. Finally, add 'raindrops' using Anitas 3D clear gloss and leave to dry, et voila!

Saturday, 4 October 2008

Not only that, Gill has very kindly donated a beautiful Whiff of Joy stamp as a prize for one of you lucky challengers!

Here is my card, I have used dovecraft paper, a snowflake embossing folder and blue organza ribbon on the base of this card, The image was given to me by Tracie (Thanks Tracie! xx), I coloured the image with watercolours, and added the 3 square gems for a bit if icy bling ;)

The greeting was cut from a sheet that was free with a magazine, I stamped a snowflake design (by Anita's), coloured them in with a sakura clear glitter pen and then cut out each of the three snowflakes by hand, they were extremely fiddly to do, but I think they look better than if i'd have just punched them out as circles. (I've just noticed that the top of one snowflake has bent down a little *doh!* I never realised that when I took the photo!!)

Friday, 3 October 2008

...Tonight Matthew, i'm gonna be...... a star! ;)Well a 'trio of stars inchy' to be precise.This week Fiona has asked us to add stars to our inchies, I used my x-cut star trio punch on black card then trimmed off a little from the sides before gluing it on top of a gold inchy blank. All I did after that was add a little glitter and get my white gel pen out...really easy one this week!To check out the challenge for yourself please click HERE

Thursday, 2 October 2008

Firstly, let me wish Marlene a very happy birthday, I'm sure it will be a birthday to remember! looks like her hubby is planning to make her birthday really special (and so he should eh girls? lol) ;)To celebrate her birthday, Marlene has some totally scrummy blog candy on offer, which includes beads, charms, ribbons, bling brads, yummy papers, tags and sentiments, not only that but 2 (yes 2!) Hanglar stamps which as you know are like gold dust at the moment.Thank you Marlene for offering this amazing blog candy, I shall cross my fingers and hold my breath until next Wednesday ;)Many Happy Returns!Jo xx

Wait til you see the awesome candy that my friend and fellow DT member, Gill, will be sending to one lucky blogger! Not only is there a wonderful assortment of crimbo goodies all in a blue theme, but there is also one of the most cutest snowman stamps i've ever seen.Why celebration candy? Well not only has Gill reached over a whopping 11,000 blog hits but it's also her birthday on the 9th October (which incidently is the closing date to get your name down for this yummy candy)Congrats Gill! and wishing you a wonderful birthday, full of happiness, cake and craft stash! ;) xx

Woohooo! 10,000 hits! wtg! *claps*my friend and fellow DT member Jeanette is celebrating 10,000 hits on her fabulous blog, it's jam packed with outstandingly beautiful work, please go see for yourself, notice especially how she colours her images.........WOW!Jeanette is going to give some fab candy to someone lucky out there in blogland, so why not link back to her and put your name down, it could be you!Apart from a totally cute magnolia stamp you could also win 20 images, some prima flowers, a small versa ink pad, a couple of sentiments and embellishments.So generous of Jeanette don't you agree?

Tuesday, 30 September 2008

It's been aaaaaaaaaaaages since i've entered an Arty Girlz challenge, sorry Julie & Crissi, not intentional of course, just been so busy lately and haven't had much time to craft at all, however my daughter asked me to make her friend a birthday card for her, " She likes nightmare before christmas and the colours black, white and red" was what Laura told me so I made this card and matching notepad/keyring (which has a jack skellington charm attached too). Laura said she loved them! which always pleases me cos as some of you may know, it aint easy pleasing teenagers is it!! lol.

the red background paper used is from my Cricut tags and bags paper pad, the L and U were embossed with the argyle cuttlebug folder, Jack's head was hand drawn and used to replace the letter O in LouHope you like it!

Saturday, 27 September 2008

It's week 18 over at Sketch Saturday, can you believe it? how time flies!This weeks challenge is sponsored by Alota Stamps, and one lucky challenger is going to win FOUR fabulous stamps!!

This is my card using sketch #18...

Don't you just love this gorgeous image? It's by Artful Stamper, I believe it's called 'cat nap', I love it! I coloured it with watercolour pencils, but I'd love to see what this image would look like coloured with copics or promarkers.The paper is by Dovecraft, the gifts were stamps which were free in a magazine and the ribbon is from my stash. I hand drew the holly & berries.

Wednesday, 24 September 2008

and 2 fabulous awards they are too! Thank you so much Tracie, you're so kind and i'm honoured that you thought of me even though I feel that I don't truly deserve them, I have been really busy lately and I haven't had much time to post, to blog-hop and leave comments and not even had much time to craft! - so thank you for thinking of me xx

Saturday, 20 September 2008

This weeks challenge for Sketch Saturday is sponsored by Bootiful Stampz, where you could win a fabulous peeking bunny stamp!I have this fab stamp, so chose to make my card for sketch #17 using it :)I stamped bunny twice and layered one on top of the other. I drew the Merry Kissmas banner and the mistletoe, cut them out and added them to the design, finishing with a white bow to hide the end of the mistletoe. The mistletoe berries, bunnys nose and bunnys ears have had a little glitter added.The patterned paper is by Dovecraft, from the 'blue christmas' pad.The plain blue is embossed with my swiss dots folder, I have ordered the snowflake folder for future crimbo cards ;) - and the white scalloped edge is a simple row of white circle punchouts.

Please take a look at the other fab designs by Bootiful Stampz, the 20% back to school special offer off the whole range of bunny stamps lasts until the end of the month, so get them while you can!Also, please don't forget to check out the other design team members stunning work over on Sketch SaturdayThose of you taking part in the challenge, thank you and GOOD LUCK! xx

Thursday, 18 September 2008

WOW! I'm in love with the wonderful blog candy that the extremely talented Bev has on offer.

The equally talented Katharina (of Whiff of Joy fame) has given her DT members some stamps to give away as candy.Bev is offering the lovely snugglicious < (it's a word! i'm sure of it!!) Whiff of Joy Willow with Hot Chocolate, and has also added ribbon, crochet flowers, flowers from Poppicrafts and Michaels wedding confetti to the candy prize. WOW!!!All you have to do is leave a comment on the post on Bev's blog and post a link to this blog candy on your blog.GOOD LUCK everyone! xx

Sunday, 14 September 2008

I've just got this inchy completed in time as there will be a new challenge set tomorrow over at inchy by inch. The theme was 'Autumn Days'. I love autumn, it's my favourite season, we're surounded by all those wonderful warm golden bronze colours and the crisp fresh air.

I used a small oak leaf punch on a mixture of card and paper, then coloured parts of those punchouts with pencils to create my autumnal collection of leaves.

Monday, 8 September 2008

Those of you are very kind to have my logo on your blogs may have noticed that the logo has changed. That's because I have been tinkering in PSP. I fancied a change of design, altho decided to keep the grey/blue colour tone.I made the logo to match, but named it the same as the old one so that it would change for everyone, meaning nobody would have to change the code on their blog.

Sunday, 7 September 2008

My new friend and fellow DT member Mariska has awarded me and the rest of the DT this wonderful award. Thank you so much hunni, I'm thrilled to bits! and honoured that you think i'm worthy of this award (((hugs)))

Rules for the JAVABLU AWARD:1. The winner can put the logo on their blog.2. Link the person you received your award from.3. Nominate at least 5 other blogs.4.Before listing the nominees give a brief reason why you chose them5. Put links of those blogs on yours.6. Leave a message on the blogs you have nominated.

This is gonna sound like a cop-out, but I too would have chosen my fellow DT members, after all that is why they were chosen in the first place, they are all so talented, full of creativity, friendly, and I'd like to thank them all for giving me and countless others so much inspiration.so girls, please also accept this award from me too xx

now for the Congratulations!

Mariska is celebrating 1000 blog hits in just a month! wooohooo! wtg!!thats quite an achievment, but not hard to see why people stop by her blog, her work is awesome!To say thank you to the many visitors to her blog she is giving away 2 wonderful stamps,I'm not going to say too much more on here, as I want you all to go see her blog for yourselves to find out what you have to do to win ;)Good luck everyone! xx

Saturday, 6 September 2008

This is my card using this weeks sketch, I used my crafters companion 'girls' cd for the unicorn backing paper and main image, which is decoupaged using silicone gel instead of foam pads for a more subtle layered look. I used my swiss dots folder on the card beneath the main unicorm, everything else is from my stash and my trusty clear glitter gel pen!

Here is the sketch..

This weeks sketch is being sponsored by Sassy Crafts, where you could win a fabulous stamp!!

Challenge #3 over at House Mouse & friends this week is a sketch!! :)This is my first entry for this fantastic challenge blog as I don't own any House Mouse stamps yet, this image was stamped and sent to me by my friend Emma, thanks hunni!, everything except the image of course is from my stash, the image is coloured with watercolour pencils and the sentiment is from Stamps Away.

Wednesday, 3 September 2008

Look at this for a fantastic deal ;)'Back to School' special offer.20% off all Bunny Stampzfor the whole of September!WOW! how about that for an offer eh?!!I can personally recommend these stamps - excellent quality and clean, crisp images every time.

When you commission Siggi-Shop to design anything for you, you agree to be bound by the terms and conditions below:

All work is copyright of Siggi-Shop.com (unless stated otherwise)

If you have a blog background, image hosting is included for free, only when available, however, Siggi Shop cannot guarantee a continuous hosting service and will give you details of how you can host the background yourself should you wish to do this.

Siggi-Shop.com will not accept offensive, pornographic or illegal material from you as part of any graphic design service.

Siggi-Shop.com will accept no liability for infringement of copyright resulting from material supplied by you. It is your responsibilty to ensure you are using all text and graphics legally and Siggi-Shop.com reserves the right to decline to use material if there is sufficient reason to believe a copyright violation is taking place.

You must not alter any design work, doing so is a breach of copyright and Siggi-Shop.com reserves the right to ask you to remove any or all work provided.

You must leave any Siggi Shop logo on all work, likewise you should not alter or remove any text and/or graphics from html codes given, doing so is a breach of copyright and Siggi-Shop.com reserves the right to ask you to remove any or all work provided.

Please do not copy any design either partly or wholly without prior permission from Siggi-Shop.com, doing so is a breach of copyright.

Due to previous problems, I now keep copies on disc of all work done and can prove that I have designed a specific logo or background.

Saturday, 30 August 2008

Apart from having a few images stamped for me, I actually own just one PB stamp at the moment and this is it, 'bear blank 1', He's so adorable though don't you think? I stamped the 'blank' with a tiny 'birthday wishes' greeting, from a set of montage stamps from Stamps Away.

He is standing on top of the 'u' in the word Auntie, which I made up from rub-ons which are from K&Co. The striped paper is from my stash, as are the gold brads. I punched out a few leaves and used them with some tiny paper flowers to make the birthday bouquet.

It's week 14 for Sketch Saturday, and some of the new DT have made gorgeous cards for you to see, go check them out HERE, and please keep checking back through the week, as more are uploaded.

here is my card...I've used my Tilda in Paris stamp (I love this image, it's so cute!) coloured with watercolour pencils.The papers are by K&Co's 'Isabella' collection...totally gorgeous papers.The greeting is a 'stamps away' stamp.Everything else from my stash, I think the pearlised flower gems were free with a magazine if I remember correctly.

Friday, 29 August 2008

I haven't blogged here for what seems like ages, partly because we've been on holiday (north Wales), partly because theres things to sort out before Jake goes back to school next Tuesday and Emma and Laura have to sort out Uni and College places too, and partly because...

Was such a difficult job to do, needed help deciding from my kids and friends. but I am so happy with the team, as i'm sure you will agree when you take a look at all their amazing work on their blogs, the links are there at the top right of this page ;)Tomorrow is sketch #14, and of course I don't expect them to have card examples ready for when the post is published in the morning, but I will add any examples that they do make during the week. Please keep checking, they are an extremely talented bunch and are sure to inspire you in many ways.

Ok, off to craft! I desperately need to get ink and glue on my fingers, and hopefully create summat worthy to be alongside the fabulous DT! *gulp*

Some of you may know that I don't possess any penny black stamps, well truthfully, I now have one stamp that I bought a couple of weeks ago, but I do have some images that have been stamped already for me. I presume this kitty with present image is a PB one, well I hope so as i've used it for this weeks Penny Black Saturday Challenge! The present had tiny circles on it so I coloured them in to make them look like xmas puds! which I echoed with the 3 puds on the left.the patterned paper is from Dovecraft, but I forget the name of the collection, was from one of their 6x6 72pce stack.

Sunday, 10 August 2008

Here is my card, I have used paper cellar papers from their 'wedding' pad, I also used gold vellum that I embossed with my new swiss dots folder (thanks to Ann for reminding me that I needed it, I love it Ann, a craft essential eh?)The cute fairy image is one that was sent to me a couple of years ago by a friend (yes a couple of years!!, I had loads of them stamped for me and haven't used them all yet) I cannot recall if my friend told me what the name of the stamp she used is, but if any of you know where this fairy came from please leave a message, as i'd love to know.I coloured her wings with a sakura clear glitter gel pen.The image doesn't have all of the leaves shown, I drew and coloured a few extra (the ones down the left edge) so that the image didn't get 'lost' on the card.

Saturday, 2 August 2008

This is sketch #10, and it's just been posted on the blog. There is a prize up for grabs this week, why don't you take a look ;)

And here is my card using the sketch, the patterned cardstock is Chatterbox violet parlor roses, the scalloped border was made using lots of small circle punchouts, the sentiment and alphabet letters are from Stamps Away, and the gorgeous, cute bunnies are from Bootiful Stampz, this one is Bunny Pocket.

Arty Girlz have asked us to use the colour blue on our projects this week, and here is my card, admittedly more white than blue, but there is blue on there ;)
I have used stamps away snowflake montage stamps to build up the ring of snowflakes, the centre image is 'gift bunny' from bootiful stampz, perfect for crimbo!

is the theme this week at Penny Black Saturday Challenge, I like this sheep friends image, isn't it cute? I've used an assortment of papers and punched flowers and leaves, the sentiment is a 'stamps away' stamp

Sunday, 27 July 2008

This is the blog candy that you could win from Bev . And WOW! what candy it is!!It is to celebrate her getting 15000 hits to her fantastic blog, well done Bev!The draw will take place on the 9th of August, good luck everyone! xx

Saturday, 26 July 2008

Isn't it a work of art in itself? This has been awarded to me by the very talented Tracie. Thanks so much hunni for thinking of me and honouring me with this award xx

Here are the rules for this Wylde Women Award :

1. You can give it to one or one hundred or any number in between - it's up to you. Make sure you link to their site in your post.2. Link back to this blogsite (http://www.tammyvitale.com/) so Tammy can go visit all these wonderful women and remember the Purpose of the Award is to send love and acknowledgment to women who brighten your day, teach you new things and live their lives fully with generosity and joy.

I'd like to pass on this award to everyone who reads, passes through and comments on my blog, You all deserve this award, you inspire me, support me and generally make blogland a wonderful place to be.

On a more personal note, i'd like to pass on this award to Carolann, this lady has had to cope with so much lately, including the loss of her dear Mom, yet she always finds the time to go blog hopping, commenting on everyone's work, taking part in challenges and generally being a wonderful woman and a great friend. Her strength is amazing and I admire her a great deal.Also to Inspirational, thanks to Julie and the rest of the inspirational team, we get to see amazing works of art from all over blogland.And also to Sue, her creations are always outstanding, her blog is a fab read and she often pops over to see what i've been upto, when i'm ashamed to say that I don't often have the time to go catch up with what Sue has been upto (sorry Sue, but I do appreciate your visits here).

There are so many more of you that i'd be happy to pass this onto, but if I did there'd be nobody left for them to pass it on to! lol.

Friday, 25 July 2008

I added sakura clear glitter gel pen to the 'tree' which was cut from a piece of cardstock (I forget the brand though) the poinsettia die cut embellishment has a button and fibre as its stamen and theres also another button and ribbon above the stocking.